Local body elections 2022

This year's election is full of change as three new mayors will be appointed in Northland.

That means just over one in four people on the Māori roll cast a vote. She is a world champion waka ama paddler and the wife of former MP Hone Harawira. Cocurullo was first elected to the Whangārei District Council 15 years ago in 2007. "I don't believe in turning up three months before an election and raising a profile. Looking at current numbers, that person is Rachel Smith - but that, too, could change. Turnout in the Far North has been disappointing despite the prospect of a new mayor, the introduction of Māori wards, and a wide choice of high-calibre candidates. "I just take my job seriously and give it 100 per cent ... I'm not that kind of politician," she said. He won the mayoralty by more than 1400 votes. According to progress results, the new general ward councillors for the Far North District Council are Ann Court, Kelly Stratford and Steve McNally (Bay of Islands-Whangaroa Ward), John Vujcich (Kaikohe-Hokianga Ward), Felicity Foy and Mate Radich (Te Hiku Ward). The new council will be very different to its predecessors with 10 instead of nine councillors, four of whom will be elected from the Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward — the first time a designated Māori ward has been used in the Far North. She was celebrating the culmination of a 24-year career in local government at home in Waipapa with close family and a bottle of bubbly.